The much anticipated combination of JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar would undoubtedly change the streaming market in India. According to sources, the combined company may simply monopolize the industry. These two are among the largest OTT operators in India in terms of user base. Although the exact terms of the two platforms’ merger have not been announced, rumors have it that JioHotstar, a shared platform, will be created. However, that might be a little more difficult now that an astute Delhi techie has taken over the JioHotstar domain.
A webpage featuring the banner JioHotstar: Best of Entertainment, Streaming Soon is now displayed when the domain name JioHotstar is accessed. Nevertheless, there are no logos or branding on the very plain webpage. However, there is a statement from the page’s buyer that is addressed to the “dear executive of Reliance Industries.”
The message says: “I’m a Delhi-based app developer who is now working on my startup. While browsing social media in early 2023, I saw a story claiming that Disney+ Hotstar was losing daily active users due to the loss of its IPL streaming license and that Disney was thinking about selling or combining Hotstar with an Indian rival.
This prompted me to speculate that Viacom 18, which is controlled by Reliance, is the only significant party with the financial means to purchase Disney+ Hotstar, given that Zee and Sony were pursuing their own merger. This brought to mind Jio’s acquisition of Saavn, a music streaming service, which they rebranded as JioSaavn and renamed from Saavn.com to JioSaavn.com. I was thinking, “If they acquire Hotstar, they might rename it to JioHotstar.com”
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